Washington Twp. Is Home to 6 Registered Sex Offenders

Washington Township is currently home to six registered sex offenders, putting it in the middle of the list of Morris County towns.

Through an Open Public Records Act request, Patch obtained town-by-town statistics regarding the number of registered sex offenders residing in each Morris County municipality, now 20 years after a landmark bill was signed into law.

The county, with a total of 292 registered sex offenders, is led by Dover with 41.
Washington Township, with six registered sex offenders, is 17th on the list of 39 Morris County municipalities, claiming 2-percent of the county’s total.

Numbers varied by county throughout the state, with Essex leading all 21 counties claiming 522 registered sex offenders as residents. Morris County is in the top half of the state’s counties, ranking fifth overall. According to the New Jersey State Police, Hunterdon County has the least number of registered sex offenders with just 27.

On Oct. 31, 1994, sex offender registration and community notification provisions were signed into law under the name of Megan’s Law. Less than seven years later, on July 23, 2001, that law expanded and became required for registration on the Internet as well.

Megan’s Law came about after Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old girl, was raped and murdered by a neighbor in Hamilton Township, Mercer County in July of 1994. That neighbor, Jesse Timmendequas, was previously convicted of sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl and seven-year-old girl.

Timmendequas was convicted of first degree murder, kidnapping, and four aggravated sexual assault crimes of Kanka. He was sentenced to the death penalty, but reverted back to life in prison without parole after New Jersey abolished the death penalty in 2007 while he sat on death row.

In Morris County the list of each town’s number of registered sex offenders is as follows:

Dover: 41
Parsippany: 22
Mount Olive: 19
Morristown: 19
Roxbury: 17
Jefferson: 16
Rockaway Township: 16
Rockaway Borough: 14
Butler: 11
Boonton: 10
Denville: 9
Montville: 9
Mount Arlington: 8
Morris Township: 8
Lincoln Park: 8
Hanover: 7
Washington Township: 6
Greystone Park: 5
Wharton: 5
Randolph: 4
Kinnelon: 4
East Hanover: 4
Florham Park: 3
Madison: 3
Mendham Township: 3
Netcong: 3
Pequannock: 3
Boonton Township: 2
Chatham Borough: 2
Chatham Township: 2
Chester Township: 2
Long Hill Township: 2
Victory Gardens: 2
Riverdale: 1
Chester Borough: 0
Harding: 0
Mendham Borough: 0
Morris Plains: 0
Mountain Lakes: 0

Registration under Megan’s Law comes from convictions under a wide scope of crimes, according to the New Jersey State Police. Also, those not found guilty by reason of insanity are also required to register.

The crimes include aggravated sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, kidnapping in conjunction with a sex crime, endangering the welfare of a child by engaging in sexual conduct, luring or enticing, and knowingly promoting prostitution of a child.

Megan’s Law is similarly known at the federal level as the Sexual Offender Act, which was created in 1994, and requires anyone convicted of a sex crime against children to notify local law enforcement of any change of address or employment after release from custody.